The Office of Academic Affairs awarded Charlotte Doody '23 (MFA1), whose thesis project is featured on this page, the Chairman’s Award for her overall performance at NYSID. At NYSID, thesis projects are long journeys that challenge students to brainstorm, conduct research, and synthesize all they have learned. The journey ends with a presentation to a jury of faculty and industry professionals. Our students work closely with faculty to create hypothetical designs that offer solutions to real-world problems.

Student: Charlotte Doody
Project: Aether Wellness Center
Program: Master of of Fine Arts (Professional)
Instructor: Barbara Weinreich

Chairman’s Award winner Charlotte Doody researched many spas and wellness centers in preparation for her thesis. Her inquiry resulted in this revelation: “In modern day America, taking care of one’s health has become a sacred practice—a pilgrimage towards balance and well-being.” So she designed Aether Wellness Center around the idea that, “health is a new religion.” She took inspiration from ancient temples and ecclesiastical architecture— particularly the Pantheon and the Renaissance churches of Leonardo da Vinci and Filippo Brunelleschi— to evoke a sense of reverence and tranquility. She says, “I didn’t want the center to be associated with a specific religion, but I wanted it to be a spiritual place where a person could have an almost out of body experience.” She located her center in the Hugh L. Carey Ventilation Tower, on NYC’s Governors Island, in part because it’s octagonal. She notes, “In Catholicism, the octagon and the octagram are religious symbols for rebirth and resurrection.” She wanted a building that was insular, with few windows, to create the feeling that one had entered another realm. On every floor, there are public spaces, such as reception areas, in the central corridor of the octagonal structure, and more private spaces, such as treatment rooms, on the outside of the structure. The only place she punctured the structure was in the core reception areas, where she used window strips to create a line of natural light that draws the eye upward.  In her research on many ancient traditions, she found similar systems for restoring imbalances in the body around four elements—earth, water, fire, and air. So the 3rd through the 6th floors are organized by an element with corresponding programming, for example, mud baths on the “earth” floor.